These were all done in a small sketchbook (5.5"x8.5"). Each spread is only 10cm x 7cm. If they're any bigger, I find I fill them in with more detail than is necessary for their purpose. These were really just meant to be a rough guide for me to figure out the kinks in the layouts.

Markers used were Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush points) in three different shades of gray. Of course, I pencilled these roughs in with a .5 mechanical pencil before going over them with the markers.

Sorry about that. I did mean to post these a bit sooner. There will be more pages posted through the month of May every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Details on the hiatus:

• I got my own website in the works.
• Once that's settled down, I'll get writing on the This Is Where We Belong core story. Length of the story is yet to be determined.
• I submitted a 32 page one-shot to Yen Press's New Talent Search. Unless - by some miracle - it gets selected, I'll probably start posting that online by June.

So yeah, if you want to stay up to date, like my facebook page or follow me on twitter.

So I feel I need to say something here. Bear with me, for a moment, please.

The rape joke in panel 6? Sorry about that.

Not ‘kinda’ sorry. Not ‘really really’ sorry. Just sorry.

Even as I wrote the script, penciled, inked, and toned, I felt uncomfortable making light of something that is a serious offense, but I kept the gag in.

I don’t think I need to explain why making light of rape is a bad thing, but maybe I should explain why I left it in if it made me so uneasy.

It isn’t entirely about what’s true to the story, or what’s true to the characters, or even self-censorship. Although each of those matters do play into the decision not to revise.

In the end, I want to stay honest. I left the gag in there to remind myself that, despite what I’d like to think, I’m not an ideological paragon free of the influence of the misogynistic tropes prevalent in mass-market storytelling and especially comics. What’s more, I need to work against those tropes or at least carefully consider the effect of that which I put into public view.

Which may be strange to say since the whole plot of this chapter pretty much boils down to woman-in-distress-so-the-male-has-to-save-her, but I think I add enough of a twist towards the end for counter-balance. Maybe we can hold that discussion until this chapter is posted in its entirety?

At any rate, I hope the rape joke in panel six isn’t enough to turn you off this comic and you stick around to see if I’m able to pull it away from male-power-fantasy-land. If you are so offended that you can’t follow anymore, please accept my apologies before we part ways.